Don’t forget about the fourth former Cougar playing this year Olympics

The Dick and Tony Bennett era was an amazing run for WSU basketball and we are still seeing the residual effects of their success. Right now we are seeing four former Cougars playing in the Olympics, including one you may not be aware of. On team USA of course we have NBA superstar Klay Thompson and team Australia has Aron Baynes and Brock Motum. However the Nigerian team includes one former player that has been forgotten about.

Josh Akognon was an original Dick Bennett recruit from his excellent first recruiting class that brought us Derrick Low, Robbie Cowgill and Daven Harmerling. Akognon led the team in scoring coming off the bench as a sophomore and earned two Pac-10 player of the week honors as well as being named the Pac-10's most underrated player by Sports Illustrated. Unfortunately Akognon was not a great fit in Bennett's offense and ended up transferring to Cal-State Fullerton as a junior. He ended up being named the Big West conference's player of the year after averaging 23.9 points per game as a senior. After leaving Fullerton he spent a lot of time in Europe and had a cup of coffee with the Dallas Mavericks.

So don't sleep on Mr. Akognon as you are watching this year's Olympics. Once a Cougar, always a Cougar.

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